Whodunit Column by Bruce Tierney

The mother/son writing team known as Charles Todd hails from the East Coast of the United States, but you’d swear they were Brits through and through, given the style and tone of their popular Inspector Rutledge series. Set in the years following World War I, the books chronicle the cases of a Scotland Yard inspector, back after a long and harrowing wartime tour of duty that has left him...

Whodunit Column by Bruce Tierney

John Connolly’s Charlie Parker books push the limits of the whodunit genre. They read like detective novels, but then they step over the line into Stephen King country, where apparitions dance at the periphery of the senses and where evil becomes palpable—and ever so believable. Connolly’s latest, The Wrath of Angels, finds the intrepid P.I. sitting in a bar, listening to a...

Whodunit Column by Bruce Tierney

The redoubtable Commissario Guido Brunetti returns for his 21st adventure in Donna Leon’s latest novel, Beastly Things. This time around, Brunetti looks into the murder of a man found thrice stabbed, his features dreadfully battered by the strong tides of the Venetian canals. Only two clues present themselves: The victim is wearing one expensive shoe, of a brand that can only be found in...

Whodunit Column by Bruce Tierney

For years, Joe Pike served as taciturn sidekick to Robert Crais’ wisecracking L.A. detective, Elvis Cole. Cole was nominally the brains of the outfit, while Pike carried the big stick, or perhaps more precisely,was the big stick. This time out, Pike takes the starring role in Crais’ latest thriller, The Sentry. Rescuing damsels in distress is Pike’s forte, and indeed...

Whodunit Column by Bruce Tierney

On my blog, Mysterious Orientations, I recently posted a photo of myself receiving an intravenous drip of antibiotics in a Japanese hospital, and at the same time devouring Nevada Barr’s latest thriller, Burn. I’m happy to report that I recovered fully—and I’m glad I had some good reading material! Burn features veteran park ranger Anna Pigeon, this time on location...

Whodunit Column by Bruce Tierney

It doesn’t always work out that I get a theme to exploit in my column, but this time I got lucky: three novels of modern-day Russia and a Mystery of the Month set in steamy Bangkok whisk readers away on a suspense-laden magic carpet ride across the far reaches of the Eastern Hemisphere. Loosely based on the real-life story of a disgraced Russian billionaire, The Hunted, traces the...

Whodunit Column by Bruce Tierney

Stone Heights, Colorado: Jericho Ainsley, onetime director of the CIA, lies dying. He has gathered his relatives, friends, supporters and minions to his side for a final goodbye. At the opening of Jericho’s Fall, Stephen L. Carter’s espionage thriller, Rebecca “Beck” DeForde has been summoned to Jericho’s bedside. Ainsley gave up his family and his CIA career...